


The Facial Hair Bro Club

by Fighting_for_Creativity



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Gen, Humor, Snark, Stephen Strange&Tony Stark Friendship, Tony becoming Iron Man mentioned, Unconventional Friendship, car crash mentioned, facial hair bros, happy end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24985156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fighting_for_Creativity/pseuds/Fighting_for_Creativity
Summary: Meeting someone at a gala wasn't something new to Tony.What was new, was finding someone who managed to keep up with him.If Strange would just join the goatee club.And then life happens.
Relationships: Tony Stark & Stephen Strange
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	The Facial Hair Bro Club

**Author's Note:**

> Plenty thanks to [ Purple_ducky00.](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_ducky00/pseuds/Purple_ducky00)
> 
> Without you, I'd not be able to publish this in time~
> 
>  **TSB Fill** :  
> Collaborator Name: Fighting_for_Creativity  
> Card Number: 3113  
> Square Filled: S5 Facial Hair Bros  
> Ship: none, Friendship Stephen Strange and Tony Stark

It was one of those boring galas again. Tony had ditched his date, some dull brunette, who seemingly was only able to talk about some fashion and designers, in which Tony had no interest.

So, like every time he was bored, he made his way towards the bar, surveying the crowd. Sometimes he amused himself with trying to pinpoint the other attendees' professions if he didn’t know already.

Normally Tony would do so for a few seconds and then be bored again because most times it was the same type of people mingling in those events.

This time, though, Tony saw someone new. Dark hair, lean as hell, black suit.

The man who caught Tony’s interest was having a drink right across from Tony, crowd-watching just like Tony was. Before the engineer could decide if he wanted to look away or approach, the other male caught him staring.

From the distance, Tony couldn’t be sure, but tall, dark and handsome was arching an eyebrow, before he raised his glass to his lips again, drinking. While he did so, he never broke eye contact.

Grinning inwardly, Tony raised his own glass as in a mockery of a toast and then gave a soft nod of acknowledgment. Before either man could approach the other though, a blonde woman walked up to the mysterious man and Obie came for Tony.

When Tony managed to get away from Obie, the other man had vanished from sight. Looking around for a bit, the engineer decided that Mr. Tall was long gone. ‘ _Well, let’s see what else might entertain me._ ’

He didn’t think about Mr. Tall anymore after that… until the next gala, at least.

This time Tony hadn’t bothered to bring a date with him. He didn’t want to be _here,_ which led to him standing at the bar once again. He had closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the burn of his scotch and the solitude when he heard rustling next to him.  
  
Annoyed Tony’s eyes snapped open before he realized who the man next to him was. Instead of the verbal abuse, he was going to fling at the intruder, Tony’s eyes swept over the man. Light skin, slender fingers,- _pianist’s fingers,_ his mind supplied- and dark curls of hair before landing on the clean shaved face. A jaw and cheekbones which could cut glass rounded the whole image. ‘ _Ok, maybe his eyes do. Gosh, those are pale and - oh, he’s a smart one!_ ’

A feeling akin to glee filled Tony at that realization. ‘ _This could be fun!_ ’

Once again the other man caught his eyes, this time Tony did see the small curl of lips, a ghost of a smile.  
  
When neither came forth with an introduction, Tony chuckled. They just kept staring but both with a smirk on their faces and something just clicked. Before either of them got whisked away again, Tony said, “Tony Stark, pleasure.”

“Doctor Stephen Strange, likewise, Dr. Stark.”

Tony’s eyebrow shot up at the surprising use of his title. “Dr. Strange? What field?”

“Neurosurgeon.”

“Oh, an actual medical doctor. Well, I assume we’ll see each other around.”

“I assume so, too, Dr. Stark.”

Grinning, Tony waved at him before leaving. ‘ _Yes, that man is interesting._ ’

At home, well, when he was sober again, Tony researched the man. It wasn’t easy to impress Tony- not by a long shot. But what he found out about Strange?

That, _that_ was impressive.

That moment Tony knew he’d have plenty of fun with Stephen.

~~

Galas came and went and plenty of those were spent with Strange’s company. Their conversations were… stilted in the beginning, if existing at all. But it was never mindless and never without some witty snark from either man. 

Over the time, they became relaxed in each others' company and they formed a tentative bond. One day their usual snarking got them to age, however, they got there.

“Well, Stranger Danger, at least _I_ don’t look like a babyface!” which wasn’t Tony’s best comeback but it was one which did the deed if Strange's slightly furrowed forehead was anything to go by.

“Excuse you? What is that supposed to mean, Stark?!”

“Oh you know,” grinning cheekily, Tony drawled his answer, “all I’m saying is that with a beard, you would look old enough to get drinks, Stephanie.”

‘ _Ah yes, that was how they got there. Stephanie tried to order a drink and the bartender had eyed him until he asked for an ID._ ’ Tony was a horrible being, for laughing at that, but he couldn’t help it and thus the discussion between them had started.

“What,” Strange looked at him with something close to disdain, “like yours? Never.”

Puffing out his chest a bit, Tony grinned and retorted, “Ah, c’mon! We’d be awesome facial hair bros! Geniuses, doctors in their respective fields, and facial hair bros, what more could you want?”

The glare Strange shot him could have killed a lesser man. As it was, Tony enjoyed himself immensely.

~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Plenty of years passed, and they kept meeting at galas until Tony got kidnapped, and became Iron Man. After that, he just didn’t do galas as often anymore. But Tony kept tabs on Strange. He knew the moment Strange crashed his car, knew of Strange’s fate. 

Tony wanted to offer him help. The engineer wanted to take care of one of his closest friends. Yet, he knew Stephen wouldn’t accept it. So he waited and hoped that Strange would reach out to him. And then Stephen seemingly vanished from earth.

He mourned him; Tony really did - as much as he could with all the shit being an Avenger entailed going on.

~~~

On one day such Avenger business led to meeting the apparently new Sorcerer Supreme if Wong was anything to believe. Wong had wandered into the Avenger HQ, took one look at Tony, and groaned before mumbling something like, “Not another.”

After the initial confusion, they got to the reason why Wong was with them in the first place. Something had been going terribly wrong with an apprentice who then broke some seal on some dimension, most sorcerers were apparently off-world doing some sorcery stuff and now the Sorcerer Supreme needed some help containing the mostly harmless beings to Central Park. Why it was always Central Park was beyond Tony.

They arrived just in time to see a man with an honest-to-god red cap being smashed into a tree right next to them. Everyone turned to Wong at that and the chubby man shrugged, “I said mostly harmless.”

“Alright,” Steve began but Tony tuned him out the moment his eyes landed on the apparent Sorcerer Supreme. Surprised, he flipped up the faceplate and stared for a moment.

The man turned towards them, lips curled in a slight smirk. “Finally. You guys can start at containing them, and I will repair the seal while Wong sends them over again.”

“Alright. Team, you heard them Hawkeye, Widow-”

“Hold on a minute. Stephanie?” Tony exclaimed incredulously. He was aware of the strange looks he received from his team. He just couldn’t care at this moment. The man before him was Strange, Tony was 99.99% sure of that. Yes, he had some grey streaks on the side, a different hairstyle altogether, and the outfit was so far from what he’d ever worn before in Tony’s company, but the eyes, the jawline, the cheekbones, the posture all of that screamed Stephen Strange to Tony.

Strange just groaned before he replied, “Here I was under the impression that by now you would have stopped doing that.”

For a moment they just eyed each other, then Strange gestured at his face, a neat goatee framing the cutting jawline, a sly smirk on it, “I mean, now that we’re ‘facial hair bros’ and all.”

Tony couldn’t help it. He laughed, loud and belly deep. By Strange’s expression, that bastard was quite pleased with himself. “Alright. I like the style, Strange. Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

“After you, Doctor Stark.”

Tony cooed at that, “Aw, we’re all fancy again, Doctor Strange? Fine by me. Want to swing by the Tower after we got rid of this problem? Maybe I can get Rhodey and Pepps to come, too.”

“I think,” Strange started and only interrupted himself to blast some magic on one of the creatures running around, “that can be arranged, Tony.”

Still grinning like a lunatic, Tony closed his faceplate and aided Strange.

His team followed him soon after.


End file.
